Institutional Liability for Sexual Abuse by Employees and Volunteers

When Trust Is Broken by the People an Institution Chose

Survivors who come to Horn Wright, LLP, our sexual abuse attorneys, often express a specific kind of pain: the abuse was committed by someone the institution hired, trained, supervised, or even praised. An employee. A volunteer. Someone whose presence was supposed to bring safety, structure, and support. Instead, that person exploited the position the institution handed them.

Survivors describe moments that still haunt them, an after-hours conversation that felt strange, a staff member lingering too long, a volunteer who quickly became “everyone’s favorite” without any real oversight. Many say they dismissed their early discomfort because they assumed the institution had done background checks, had rules, had safeguards. Only later did they learn that the institution never followed its own policies or ignored signs that should have raised alarms.

The betrayal is layered. It’s not only what the abuser did, but the realization that the institution granted that person access and authority. Understanding that connection is often the first step toward reclaiming power.

Why Institutions Are Responsible for Those They Empower

Institutions, schools, youth programs, religious organizations, residential facilities, charities, do not simply “host” employees and volunteers. They endorse them. They place them in positions where vulnerable people must rely on them. With that endorsement comes a legal duty: the institution must act reasonably to prevent foreseeable harm.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights emphasizes that organizations must create environments where misconduct is identified early and addressed decisively. Survivors often describe the opposite: a culture where concerning behavior was normalized, brushed off as “quirky,” or excused because the employee or volunteer was “dedicated,” “popular,” or “good with kids.”

Liability arises when the institution’s choices, its hiring, its supervision, its silence, create fertile ground for abuse. The harm doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens in an environment shaped by institutional decisions.

Where Institutions Often Fail, and How Liability Grows

Institutional liability rarely hinges on one decision. More often, it appears in a trail of small failures that, together, reveal a culture that did not take safety seriously. Survivors frequently describe clues they now recognize as warning signs that the institution overlooked.

Institutions may be liable when they:

• Ignore informal complaints or discomfort expressed by participants or staff.
• Allow employees or volunteers unsupervised or inappropriate access to vulnerable people.
• Hire quickly without proper screening, or retain someone despite concerns.
• Fail to enforce policies around boundaries, reporting, or monitoring.

These failures reflect systemic problems, not isolated misjudgments. And courts pay close attention to patterns, especially when they show the institution could have prevented the abuse but didn’t.

How Volunteers Create Unique Risks and Responsibilities

Many survivors assume organizations screen volunteers the same way they screen employees. Unfortunately, volunteers often slip through with minimal vetting, little training, and almost no supervision. Survivors share stories of volunteers who spent private time with children, gave special gifts, communicated outside appropriate boundaries, or crossed lines that staff members shrugged off as “enthusiasm.”

The danger is not the volunteer structure itself, it’s the institution’s failure to treat volunteers with the same seriousness as staff. The New York State Office of Children and Family Services notes that organizations must evaluate risks in every role, regardless of whether the position is paid. When institutions treat volunteers as harmless helpers rather than potential authority figures, they miss early signs of grooming behavior.

Whether someone is paid or unpaid does not change the institution’s responsibility to protect the people under its care.

The Culture That Allows Employees and Volunteers to Operate Without Oversight

Survivors often describe cultures where staff members felt untouchable, where questions were discouraged, or where favoritism shielded certain individuals from scrutiny. In these environments, employees and volunteers can act with confidence that no one is watching too closely.

One survivor explained it this way: “Everyone thought he was amazing, so no one noticed how he took advantage of the role.” Another said, “People raised concerns, but leadership didn’t want to lose someone who worked for free.”

An institution’s culture matters because it shapes whether harmful behavior is spotted early or ignored until the damage is done. Liability grows from that silence.

How Survivors Begin to See the Institution’s Role

Many survivors spend years believing the harm was a personal failure, that they should have seen the warning signs or spoken louder. Eventually, through therapy or legal consultation, they recognize how the institution’s failures set the stage.

They recall staff members laughing off inappropriate jokes. Volunteers being allowed in spaces they shouldn’t have been. Supervisors praising the abuser’s “dedication.” The grooming suddenly becomes obvious, but only in hindsight. Survivors often experience a mix of grief and clarity as they realize the environment itself was unsafe.

This shift is emotionally powerful. It reframes the story: the survivor did not fail. The institution did.

The Evidence That Reveals Systemic Neglect

Survivors rarely start with full documentation. Most begin with memories and questions. From there, attorneys work to uncover what the institution chose to bury or ignore.

Useful evidence may include:

• Internal reports showing the employee or volunteer had prior complaints.
• Policies that required supervision or screening, policies the institution failed to enforce.
• Witness accounts from staff or participants who noticed concerning behavior.
• Emails or notes showing leadership discouraged reporting or minimized risks.

Even one ignored warning can reshape the entire case.

You Have the Right to Hold Institutions Accountable

Institutions like to present themselves as protectors, of children, of students, of congregations, of communities. When they fail in that responsibility, survivors are left carrying a burden that never belonged to them. The law recognizes this imbalance and allows survivors to demand transparency, accountability, and meaningful change.

At Horn Wright, LLP, our sexual abuse attorneys help survivors examine how institutional failures contributed to the harm, gather evidence of systemic negligence, and pursue justice in a way that honors their strength and their story. If an employee or volunteer abused you and the institution failed to protect you, contact us so we can help you move toward accountability and healing on your own terms.